On January 6, 2021, Daniel Rodriguez repeatedly drove a stun gun into the base of police officer Michael Fanone’s skull, causing him to lose consciousness and suffer a heart attack.
Rodriguez was sentenced to over 12 years in prison, and the judge called him “a one-man army of hate.”
After his blanket pardon of Rodriguez and his fellow cop-beaters, Trump claimed these violent felons did not attack anyone, and that, in fact, they were the ones who had been attacked. He further stated that pardoning them was “a great thing for humanity.”
In an interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News, Trump even defended the rioters’ “Hang Mike Pence!” chants.
Trump asserted: “Well, the people were very angry….It’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect. How can you, if you know a vote is fraudulent, right, how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress?”
“Trump derangement syndrome” is a term of propaganda created to discourage the American people from examining the appalling statements and decisions for which Trump is responsible.
One of the great tragedies in American politics is the success of MAGA supporters such as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Vice President JD Vance, who have used their considerable intellects to construct narratives that normalize Trump’s egregious behavior.
For example, Johnson claims that Donald Trump should be the leading candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize—a man who boasted that other countries are “kissing my ass,” and who chose as his ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who stated that there is no such thing as a Palestinian.
If there is a syndrome at work in our politics, it is not “Trump derangement” but moral inversion. The danger to America lies not in outrage at Trump’s conduct, but in the silence that greets it.